Dichotic

First aired November 19, 2002

When Clark (Tom Welling) tries to warn Lana (Kristin
Kreuk) and Chloe (Allison Mack) about Ian (guest star Jonathan Taylor Thomas), an overachieving
student who is surreptitiously dating both girls, they accuse Clark of jealousy
but realize too late that he was right. Meanwhile, frustration with his father
(John Glover) causes Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) to lose his temper and attack a
parking attendant's car with a golf club, landing him in an anger management
class where he meets an interesting new woman.

Sam Jones III, Annette O'Toole and John Schneider also star. Craig Zisk
directed the episode written by Mark Verheiden.

Detailed Description:

By

Danielle B.

Sitting in what appears to be metal shop, Clark and Pete present their
work to their teacher as he makes his way around the classroom grading
the student’s work. He arrives at Ian, a guy with a legendary 4.0, and
tells him that he isn’t impressed with the letter opener that he
created. Ian, of course, did not appreciate this, telling the teacher so
with a bit of attitude.

After the teacher finishes going around, Pete cons Clark into using his
powers of x-ray vision to take a peek at his grade. In doing so, Clark
not only sees Pete’s grade, a B+, but he also notices Ian’s grade, a C,
knowing that Ian was going to be none to happy with that.

After the bell, the two of them make their way down the hallway when,
all of a sudden, Ian barges past them. Clark explains to Pete that he is
probably upset with his grade.

Ian returns to the metal shop classroom where he finds the teacher
working on something. He rudely tries to persuade the teacher to give
him a better mark on his project, explaining he needs an A to get the
Luther scholarship. When the teacher refuses, Ian shuts off the lights
and blasts the stereo. He then shuts the doors, in which he appears to
do with his mind. Looks like getting good grades isn’t the only thing
Ian is gifted with. He then proceeds to light up a blowtorch with an
evil grin in the teacher’s direction. When the teacher tries to turn and
run away, Ian appears behind him and stabs him in the chest with the
letter opener that he made.
In another part of town, Lex is leaving the Talon while talking on his
cell phone to someone about being late to some Charity Auction he is
supposed to be attending. When he arrives at his car, there is a police
officer there giving him a ticket. The two of them get into a bit of an
argument, the police officer asking him why he is willing to give away a
four thousand dollar set of golf club, in which Lex has in the back seat
of his car, but he’ll get into a argument over a 25 dollar parking
ticket. It appears that the police officer is only giving him a ticket
because he resents rich people. This clearly angers Lex, because the
next thing you know, he pulls out one of the golf clubs and starts
smashing the police officer’s car saying that it’s the people whom of
which he employs that pay taxes which pays his salary.
Over at Cleo’s house, Clark is helping unload Lana’s stuff from the back
of his truck. Lana thanks Cleo’s dad for letting her stay at their
house, him telling her that it’s no problem. Clark asks Lana how she’s
doing and she explains that she’s a little nervous. Clark then says that
it isn’t easy when someone you love moves away. The two share a
seemingly awkward moment before Cleo interrupts. Clark then asks the
girls if they want to grab a bite to eat. Both of them busy, he says his
goodbyes before heading back to the farm.

Back at the farm, Clark’s dad, Jonathan, is working on a tractor when,
all of a sudden, the jack slips and the tractor falls, crushing his leg.
He tries to lift it up but, of course, he isn’t strong enough. Luckily
at moment Clark arrives home and hears his dad calling out to him. He
uses his super speed to run to the shed his dad is in, then lifts the
tractor off of his poor fathers leg, after which he then proceeds to use
his x-ray vision to see that the bone in his leg is broken.

Chloe arrives in the newspaper room to find none other then Ian, waiting
there. They introduce themselves and he explains that he was looking for
the reference books in which Chloe had forgotten to return to the
library. The two exchange some flirtatious words before Chloe proceeds
to ask him if she could interview him.
At the hospital, Jonathan is given the clean bill of health by Dr. Bryce
saying that he’ll be fine as long as he stays off the leg. Clark’s mom
comes rushing into the room asking him if he’s all right and feeling
really guilty that she wasn’t there. It seems that her job at Luther
Corp is starting to take a toll on her family.

Lex arrives, asking Dr. Bryce where he could find Jonathan. Clark runs
into him and explains that his dad is fine but that he is worried about
his mother who appears to be blaming herself for Jonathan’s accident.

Over at the Talon, Chloe is interviewing Ian only with a little less
interviewing and a little more flirting. Are there sparks between them?
He then asks her if he could tag along with her and then the two of them
do something afterwards. She, of course, graciously accepts. Clark
arrives and heads over to their table to say hi. Chloe jumps up, in
somewhat of a haste and says hey before explaining they were on their
way out, grabbing her coat and heading out the door to grab the car
while Ian paid the bill. Clark fallows Ian to the counter and the two of
them discuss what had happened in wood shop, Ian explaining that he had
managed to get the teacher to give him an A. Lana appears and Clark
explains that he can’t stay for the math session he had promised her
because of his dads injury. Ian jumps in and tells her that he was
willing to help her, her telling him she was off work in ten minutes.
Clark slightly confused about Ian, who supposedly had a date with Chloe,
says his goodbyes before leaving.

Back in what appears to be a back room, Ian stands buck-naked. All of a
sudden, a head starts coming out of his back. The head then becomes an
entire body. When the two turn to face each other, we see that there are
now two of him. We then see one of them get into a car with Chloe and
the other leaving with Lana.

At the farm, as Clark makes some toast in the kitchen, his father
appears limping into the room. Both Clark and his mother hassle Jonathan
about taking it easy until he gets better, but of course, Jonathan won’t
have it.

When Pete and Clark arrive at metal shop the next day, they are
surprised to see that it’s cancelled. As the two make their way down the
hall the notice Lana at her locker with none other than Ian. Clark
stands idly by watching them, after Pete leaves him, as the two of them
discuss a peer recommendation Lana is giving to Lex Luther for him.
After thanking her he leaves, but not before kissing her on the lips.
Clark, who had been standing there the entire time, walks over to talk
to the seemingly frazzled Lana. He then asks her about her study date
with Ian. She explains that she has another date with him, this time
going to a movie, as the two of them make their way up the stairs. Clark
asks her what Chloe thinks of the whole ordeal considering Ian had
bailed on her that evening to go out with Lana. Lana, seeming to know
nothing about this, tells Clark that if he doesn’t have any facts, to
stay out of it, before walking off.

Lex arrives at an anger management class where he runs into Dr. Bryce.
The two exchange casualties and she explains that she dropkicked an
elderly, which is why she was there. Lex then proceeds to ask her to
dinner and she refuses, walking away. When Lex asks why, she asks him if
he remembers her. Before he can say anything, a woman enters the room
and asks everyone to take their seats.

Clark finds Chloe in the newspaper room and asks her about her
relationship with Ian. He tells her that he appears to be close with
Lana and that he doesn’t want her to get hurt. She then tells him that
Ian said Lana liked him but he was into Chloe and didn’t want to hurt
Lana’s feelings. Clark asks her if she believes that. Chloe, filled with
rage, storms out but not before accusing him of believing that no one
would actually like Lana over her.

As kids pile out of the school, Clark catches up to Ian in the parking
lot and asks him why he’s playing Chloe and Lana. Ian tells him that the
girls said some similar things about him and that he’s their probably
just looking for someone who is going somewhere. He goes to walk away,
but before he can, Clark accuses him of using the girls to get his
scholarship, Ian telling him that he’s just jealous that the girls who
used to like Clark, now like him. Ian goes to walk away yet again, but
once again Clark stops him by saying that he say Ian’s grade and that
it’s strange that metal class was canceled the very next day. Ian tells
him to stay out of his life before walking away.

Pete and Clark break into the metal shop after hours to investigate the
teacher, Mr. Franklin after Clark finds out that he didn’t call in sick
like was said. Pete opens up, what appears to be a supply closet and,
already reluctant to be there, he turns around and asks if they could
leave. Just when he does, the corpse of Mr. Franklin falls on him,
knocking him over. All of a sudden, a match falls on the floor and the
entire room bursts into flames. Clark grabs Pete and pushes to the
ground. When he looks up, he sees Ian standing on the other side of the
flames.

Clark rushes over to Chloe’s house only to find her and Ian making out
on the couch. Clark tries to tell her that Ian just tried to kill him
and Pete and that he thinks Ian murdered Mr. Franklin. She doesn’t
believe him, saying that Ian has been with her for the past three hours.

Clark goes to the Talon looking for Chloe where he runs into to Lana who
gets mad at him for accusing Ian of murdering Mr. Franklin. He tries to
tell her that Ian is playing her and Chloe, saying he caught him and
Chloe making out on the couch the night before. She says he’s over
reacting and then accuses him of being jealous.
At the hospital, Lex finds Dr. Brice and tells her that he remembers
her; she was a first med student a few years back assigned to take care
of him one night in the ER when he was drunk. She tells him that it was
guys like him who made her decide to leave Metropolis. After some small
talk, he tells her that he’ll see her in class but, just as he’s walking
away, she calls out to him and tells him that she’s off in ten minutes
and she was willing to go do something with him.

Pete arrives at Clark’s house to find him sitting in the kitchen. Clark
explains that he found out that Ian was taking classes at the community
college at the same time that he was taking classes at Smallville High.
Clark makes a plan to find out exactly what is going on asking Pete if
Ian carries a pager.

Ian arrives at Chloe’s house and rings the doorbell. When Chloe’s dad
answers the door he tells him that Chloe isn’t home, which confuses Ian,
him saying that she paged him to meet her there. Clark watches this
scene from his car.

Over at the Talon, Ian asks Pete if he’s seen Lana, saying that she
paged him to meet him there. After Ian leaves, Pete calls Clark and
tells him that Ian was there at exactly five thirty, proving their
theory that there are two Ians.

At the torch, Lana arrives telling Chloe that they need to talk. She
explains what Clark told her and that it seems that Ian has been playing
them. Right then, Ian arrives telling them that he was looking for them.
The girls tell him they now that he was playing them. He asks them if
that was why they paged him at the same time when the girls say they
didn’t Ian turns and shuts the door and looks it. Chloe asks him what
he’s doing and he says securing his future. He goes after them and they
try to run through another door but just as they get there, another Ian
appears.

Clark and Pete are running down the hallway of the high school calling
out to Lana and Chloe. When they get to the torch, the find a suicide
not on one of the computers, supposedly written by Lana and Chloe saying
they were going to jump off the bridge.

At the dam, a truck pull up next to the bridge and both of the Ians get
out, each pulling one of the girls out. The Ian with Chloe tries to push
her over the bridge but she elbows him. When she goes to run away, he
tackles her and she falls to the ground, hitting her head on the
pavement and knocking her out cold. Lana tries to call out to her just
as the other Ian tries to push her over the side. She manages to break
from his grip and run for the car.

Meanwhile, the other Ian walks over to the bridge and throws Chloe’s
unconscious body over the bridge just as Clark arrives. Clark jumps over
the bridge, landing on the ground fist, just in time to catch Chloe. Ian
looks down at him totally bewildered. Clark uses his supper speed to run
back to the top of the bridge. Lana meanwhile, is continuing to wrestle
with the other Ian. He manages to grab her and throw her over the side
while Clark lays Chloe on the ground and the other Ian comes up behind
him and hits him on the back with a metal pole, completely surprised to
see that the pole bends.

While Lana holds on for dear life to the side of the bridge, one of the
Ians holding on to the bottom of her legs, Clark throws the other Ian
against the wall before he hears Lana calling out for him. He rushes
toward her and grabs her just in the nick of time. Ian loses his grasp
of her legs and falls to his death. Clark then proceeds to pull Lana up
and back over the bridge.

Over at Clark’s house, Jonathan asks Clark about Lana and Chloe while
Martha is doing some bills. Clark explains that they’re a little shaken
up but okay and that they didn’t see him use his abilities. Jonathan
than asks Martha what she’s doing and she explains that she’s trying to
figure out if they could get along without her extra income. He tells
her that he doesn’t mind her job; he just doesn’t like that sometimes
the Luther’s take top priority.

Over at Chloe’s house, Lana and Chloe talked about what happened as Lana
folds some laundry. They two decide not to keep any more secrets from
each other. Chloe then explains that Lana doesn’t have to be doing
chores all the time.

At the Talon, Clark finds Chloe and Lana sitting together. They explain
that they were talking and they wanted to apologize for not believing
him when he warned them about Ian. He tells them that he expected more
from them and that they need to stop treating him like a jealous
boyfriend and that if they want to be friends that they would be
friends. Lana asks him if that’s what he really wants. He says yes and
the two exchanges looks before he bids them goodnight and turns around
and leaves, both girls watching him as he does.

Notes:

Principal Reynolds is mentioned in this episode although
not seen, so apparently he recovered from the events of "Redux".
Possibly we'll be seeing him again down the road.

First time we see that Clark has his own cell phone.

Lana has the poem Byron Moore gave her in "Nocturne"
hanging in her locker.

John Glover doesn't appear in this episode.

Naturally, the S that Clark makes in shop class (and even
holds up in front of his chest at one point) looks just like the "S" logo
he'll wear on his Superman costume.

According to Issue #1 of the new Smallville comic series
by DC Comics, the producers of Smallville are planning on bringing back
the "second half" of Ian in a future episode. Also, as many Smallville
fans have heard, they are also planning on bringing a young Bruce Wayne
on the show.
First appearance of Dr. Bryce.

The song heard during the last scene is "I Wish I Cared"
by A-Ha, the band that reached #1 in the US with "Take On Me" in 1985 -
with the help of a cartoon video. This song is from their 2000 album
Minor Earth Major Sky.

Lex tells Dr. Bryce that he remembers her from when he
was drunk in the ER and she was the "first year" med student trying to
sober him up but in med school, students are not allowed to see patients
until they are in their third year.

Ian says Chloe told him Clark dumped her a day after the
spring formal. In that episode they kinda-sorta agreed to just be friends
and Chloe pushed for it quite a bit. Is Ian exaggerating things or is
Chloe lying, misremembering, or just putting some personal bias on what
she's saying? This isn't made clear here but Clark acts as if it's a
fact.

Ian tries to kill Lana and Chloe, both of which didn't
know his secret - maybe they were on their way to figuring it out, but
for the most part they thought that he was just cheating on them. But he
doesn't try at all to kill Pete and Clark, who do know his secret, and he
knows that they do because Clark accused him of trying to kill them! In
fact, he's polite to Pete when he asks him if he knows where Lana is!
That doesn't make any sense. (editor's note - Clark did think it was a
trap for him, and Ian did try to kill Pete and Clark initially at the
shop lab and possibly witness Clark display superspeed. Still, this makes
Ian's politeness to Pete at The Talon later even more puzzling. Maybe
he's of two minds...? :) )

When Pete called Clark on his cell, it happened way too
fast. Clark answered the phone too quickly. The phone didn't have time to
ring. Right after Pete dialed the number the phone got answered too
quickly.

About the title, the word "dichotic" implies the number
two and rhymes with "psychotic". 'Dichotic' (Webster's Ninth ed.) refers
only to the discrepancy in how each of a person's ears perceives
different aspects of sound. One who is dichotomous such as Ian is not
"dichotic." If you break it down in Greek it makes a little more sense,
but that seems really, really obscure.

Ian looks as astonished at the egregious violations of
the laws of physics as we in the audience are. Clark falls past Chloe -
objects fall at the same speed barring things like skydiving techniques,
propulsion, and wind resistance that don't apply here to the relatively
short distance involved. And Clark simply catches Chloe falling at
accelerated speeds without trying to cushion her or anything - basically
she'd end up with a lot of broken bones at the very least. (some folks
thought this was an unconscious manifestation of Clark's flying ability
like in "Vortex",
but would Clark really count on it manifesting so that he abandons Lana
and hopes he can catch Chloe in time? It doesn't appear to work that way
later in "Insurgence".)

So what happens to the Ian at the dam that Clark throws?
And... what happens to the third Ian? There were two at the beginning.
Then later we see Ian grow another clone. So what happened to the second
one from the beginning? For that matter, if Ian already had a second
version of himself running around doing his studies and such, why did he
need to clone again at all? None of this is explained on-screen.

Lucky break, no one besides Clark notices that Ian had
double-booked classes. Even the people looking at his application don't
bother to call the school to straighten out the mixup, which would've
raised a lot of awkward questions for Ian, especially with the new tough
principal.

So is Ian a krypto-mutant or what? It's like they're not
even trying to explain the presence of super-human types these days. It
would have been nice, since we're not told if there's any limitation on
Ian's powers or anything. Could he have created a dozen of himself? A
hundred?

So what happened to Frankle's body? It probably wasn't
destroyed in the fire. So is the surviving Ian doing time for the crime?
I hear that over on CSI they can do amazing things with forensic science
and DNA sampling and all. And wouldn't there have been a ton of hoopla?
The people of Smallville seem to take murders pretty casually.

When Clark was setting the trap to find out if there were
two Ians, how did he get the number of Ian's pager?

Why do Pete and Clark try to "trap" Ian into revealing
himself in two places at the same time? They already believe there's two
of him, and...well, it's Smallville. They know weird stuff happens - do
they really need to confirm for themselves there are two Ians? Seems like
they would be trying to prove two Ians to Chloe and Lana, or to the
authorities. Have the girls nearby, take time-stamped pictures, have the
police nearby, something.

When Ian locks himself in the storage room to duplicate
anyone could have seen him because the door had a window.

Clark just walks into Chloe's house. No knock, no
invitation.

Does Kansas have huge water-project dams? Several natives
of Kansas have posted occasionally and said they've never seen one in all
their time there. No doubt Vancouver has several, however...

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